Content Warning: This section of the guide briefly references stillbirth and substance misuse, which the novel explores.

Throughout the novel, the Sorenson family’s houses reflect their financial security, wealth, and social status—or lack thereof. On a deeper level, houses symbolize The Irrevocable Bonds of Family and The Role of Parental Love in Family Dynamics. The most prominent house in the novel is the Oak Park mansion that Marilyn inherits from her father. Marilyn and David go on to raise their four daughters there, and it continues to be a gathering place even after the girls grow up and move into houses of their own. While Marilyn and David are imperfect parents, they provide their daughters with a loving, stable home, and the family house is a comforting presence for all characters in times of need or precarity.

Two of the characters who most benefit from the security of home are Grace and Jonah, who are also the most deficient in terms of housing. Jonah has never had a house of his own—ever since his adoptive parents died, he has been passed around to different homes. When he moves in with Marilyn and David, he finally finds the love and security he has always wanted, and for him, the house symbolizes a newfound sense of belonging.